| Industry | Railway company |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Festiniog and Blaenau Railway |
| Founded | 28 July 1873 (company formed) 1 November 1882 (railway opened) |
| Defunct | 1960 (passengers) 1961 (freight) |
| Headquarters | North Wales |
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The Bala and Festiniog Railway was a 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm), standard gauge, railway backed by the Great Western Railway (GWR) [1] in north-west Wales. It connected Bala with Blaenau Ffestiniog.
The railway originally connected Bala with Llan Ffestiniog. It was incorporated on 28 July 1873 and opened on 1 November 1882. [1] In 1883 the line was extended by converting the existing Festiniog and Blaenau Railway between Llan Ffestiniog and Blaenau Ffestiniog from 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) gauge to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge. The line terminated at Blaenau Ffestiniog (GWR) where until 1939 it connected with the Ffestiniog Railway to Porthmadog. At Bala Junction, the line connected with the Ruabon to Barmouth GWR line.
The Bala and Festiniog was vested in the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1910. On nationalisation in 1948 management of the line passed to the Western Region of British Railways. [2]
The line closed to passengers in 1960 and to freight in 1961. [3] An unusual feature of freight operation on the line was the carriage of 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in (597 mm) gauge slate wagons (provided by the GWR) on standard gauge transporter wagons between Tan-y-Manod and Blaenau Ffestiniog where the wagons were off-loaded in the large station yard and their loads of dressed slate transferred to standard gauge GWR wagons for carriage back the way they had come then on via Manod and Bala.
The building of the Llyn Celyn reservoir necessitated the flooding of the line. A diversion was considered but never built. A short section from Bala Junction to Bala remained open but was eventually closed in 1965.
The summit of the line was at Cwm Prysor which lay at 1,278 feet or 390 metres above sea level. The line served an extremely remote area of North Wales, most of which was not served by a main road until the A4212 road opened in the early 1960s.
In 1964, a connection was made through Blaenau to the Conwy Valley Line at Blaenau Ffestiniog North allowing access as far as Trawsfynydd nuclear power station; a loading facility for nuclear flasks was constructed on a siding a hundred yards north of the closed Trawsfynydd Lake Halt.
In 1982, the Ffestiniog Railway was reopened to a wholly new Blaenau Ffestiniog on the site of the former GWR station. Conwy Valley line services were extended along the 1964 connection to the new interchange station and Blaenau Ffestiniog North (LNWR) was closed.
On 17 July 1989, the first passenger train beyond Blaenau Ffestiniog ran to a temporary platform at Trawsfynydd (Maentwrog Road). [4] Organised by Provincial, regular Sunday services ran from Sunday 23 July to Sunday 10 September in the form of an extension of the 09.45 Llandudno train, with a return at 13.40. [4] A maximum of 60 passengers could be carried as far as Trawsfynydd where they were met by a bus to the nuclear power station for a guided tour. [4]
The only part of the line in use today is the very short section between the two stations in Blaenau Ffestiniog. The section of line between Blaenau (GWR) and Trawsfynydd power station closed in 1998, although the track is protected and has remained in situ since. Much of the trackbed south of Trawsfynydd remains intact except for the section flooded by Llyn Celyn and some sections used to improve the A4212 road. Several other sections are open as permissive paths.
Many of the former stations are now in use as private residences.
During 2016, the Trawsfynydd Railway Company was formed under the ownership of Colin Dale and with the use of volunteer labour, began to clear the line to Trawsfynydd Lake railway station which they proposed to be their terminus. They also intended to re-open Maentwrog Road, Llan Ffestiniog, a halt at Cwm Teigl and at Manod, en route. [5]
The clearing of the line was sanctioned by the owner of the trackbed, Network Rail and by 10 October 2016, more than six productive days had been achieved. Also, a bid was unsuccessfully made for DB Cargo's Class 08 locomotive No. 08757 from Crewe which would cost £19,600. A crowd funding site was launched to this end. [6]
In August of 2017 Network Rail took the decision to revoke the licence issued to Trawsfynydd Railway Company for clearing the line following an investigation which found several breaches of the terms and conditions of the licence agreement. [7]
The company dissolved in December 2018 following the death of the owner. [8]
A separate volunteer society, the Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynydd Railway Society, kept a watching brief in the background to the Trawsfynydd Railway Company. After it lost its licence to clear the line, the Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynydd Railway Society stepped in with the goal of developing its own plans to restore the line in a manner acceptable to Network Rail and other stakeholders.
A new interim committee was formed through co-opting existing committee members from the Trawsfynydd Railway Company. It held its first and only AGM on 3 February 2019 to discuss how to take the next steps towards restoring the line. Plans included changing the Society into the Bala and Ffestiniog Railway Heritage Trust. [9]
The outcome of the AGM was to disband the existing Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynydd Railway Society and replace it with a limited company named the Bala and Festiniog Railway Heritage Trust. It would be run by an elected committee which had the mandate to preserve the history of the old line between Bala and Ffestiniog and to explore options of how to restore the line between Trawsfynydd and Ffestiniog to operational use. Members of the committee reiterated that this would involve much paperwork before any tangible progress was made on the physical infrastructure once an agreement is obtained from Network Rail. [10]
Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station serves the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales, and is the passenger terminus of the Conwy Valley Line from Llandudno Junction. Transport for Wales Rail operate through services to Llandudno Junction and Llandudno. The station is a joint station with the narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway, which operates primarily tourist passenger services to Porthmadog throughout most of the year. A feature of the standard gauge service is the availability on trains and buses of the popular "Gwynedd Red Rover" day ticket.
The Festiniog & Blaenau Railway (F&BR) was a narrow gauge railway built in 1868 to connect the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in Wales with the slate quarries around Tanymanod and the village of Llan Ffestiniog, 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) to the south. At Blaenau Ffestiniog it made a direct connection with the Festiniog Railway (FR) with which it was closely associated during its fifteen-year life. The railway was purchased by the Bala and Festiniog Railway in 1883 and converted to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge to extend the Bala Ffestiniog line, a branch of the GWR's line from Ruabon to Barmouth.
Frongoch railway station served the village of Frongoch on the Great Western Railway's Bala Ffestiniog Line in Gwynedd, Wales.
Capel Celyn Halt was a solely passenger railway station which served the rural area of Capel Celyn west of Bala. It was on the Great Western Railway's (GWR's) Bala Ffestiniog Line in Gwynedd, Wales.
Arenig railway station stood beneath Arenig Fawr on the Great Western Railway's Bala Ffestiniog Line in Gwynedd, Wales. It served this thinly populated upland area, but its particular purposes were to serve Arenig Granite quarry which opened in 1908 next to the station and to act as a passing loop on the largely single-track route. The railway was the quarry's main carrier and also its main customer, crushed stone being used for track ballast.
Trawsfynydd Lake Halt was a solely passenger railway station near the northeastern tip of Llyn Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales. Many Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century institutions in Wales were given anglicised names, this station being one. Over the years, and especially since the Second World War, most have been rendered into Welsh or given both Welsh and English names. Trawsfynydd Lake Halt closed before this happened.
Maentwrog Road railway station was on the Great Western Railway's Bala Ffestiniog Line in Gwynedd, Wales.
Festiniog railway station served the village of Llan Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, Wales. This station was one of many 19th century institutions in Wales to be given an anglicised name. Over the years, and especially since the Second World War, most have been rendered into Welsh or given both Welsh and English names, but Festiniog station closed before this happened. The village of Llan Ffestiniog - known locally simply as "Llan" - lies over 3 km south of the larger and more recent Blaenau Ffestiniog, and over three miles south by rail.
Trawsfynydd railway station served the village of Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales.
Manod railway station served the village of Manod which then stood on the southern edge of Blaenau Ffestiniog in Gwynedd, Wales.
Tan-y-Manod railway station was a railway station approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Blaenau Ffestiniog, in Gwynedd, North Wales.
Tyddyn Bridge Halt was a railway station which served the village of Frongoch, Gwynedd, Wales. It was on the Great Western Railway's (GWR's) Bala Ffestiniog Line in Gwynedd, Wales.
Bryn-Celynog Halt was an unstaffed solely passenger railway station which served the rural area of Bryn-Celynog, east of Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales.
Llafar Halt was an unstaffed solely passenger railway station which served the rural area of Glanllafar, east of Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales.
Teigl Halt was a solely passenger railway station which served the rural area of Cwm Teigl, south of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales.
Cwm Prysor Halt was a railway station which served the remote rural area of Cwm Prysor, east of Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales.
Tyddyngwyn railway station was immediately north of the later Manod station in what was then Merionethshire, now Gwynedd, Wales.
Glynllifon Street railway station was a temporary northern terminus station of the Festiniog and Blaenau Railway (F&BR), sited between the street of the same name and Cwmbowydd Road in Blaenau Ffestiniog. It was never named.
On 10 September 1883 the Bala and Festiniog Railway (B&FR) and the Festiniog Railway (FR) opened what would be known as an interchange station in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Merionethshire, Wales. Merionethshire is now part of the county of Gwynedd.
Diphwys railway station was on the same site as the later Great Western Railway station in the heart of Blaenau Ffestiniog in what was then Merionethshire, now Gwynedd, Wales.
